iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 23h

Hey, I'm now doing #1 to develop new curriculum as well as refine current classes. Gave an overview of my week-by-week schedule and had a model generate draft slides (building backward from prior versions of the slides and homework assignments), which has made this new professor's life much better.

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Lila Sciences @lilasciences.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Iridium limits the production of hydrogen from renewable energy, and it's one of the rarest elements on Earth. We screened 2,942 catalysts in 3 months and found a palladium-based candidate the field wrote off decades ago. Early days, but the AI got there on its own. www.lila.ai/news/how-an-...

lila.ai

How an AI-run lab cracked open green hydrogen's catalyst problem | Lila

In three months, Lila Sciences’ AI-directed lab proposed, synthesized and screened 2,942 catalysts for green hydrogen, identifying 6 high-performing material families.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

For me, starting this Thursday and then every Tuesday, Thursday until the end of the current semester. :)

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

New ML+RL professor starter pack. (Yes, I only have one shelf filled with books) It’s fun to have friends who’ve written textbooks. Lots to learn and re-learn as I prep for my first lectures this week!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I've been the recipient of a lot of genuine compliments recently which have made me feel really great. In a period of change in my life, these little blasts of good vibes have been soul-sustaining at times. I'm resolving to pay it forward as much as I can. #sharegoodness

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Reinforcement Learning Conference @rl-conference.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A truly compelling keynote from Sheila McIlraith at RLC 2026 today — exploring how formal language can serve as a nexus between signals and symbols for agents that learn, plan, and remember. A principled and thought-provoking perspective on the future of RL and agentic AI!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

All of them were my favorites. Thanks for sharing this great selection.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

RLC is great, Montreal is wonderful, the organizers did a great job. I’m looking forward to next year’s conference in Providence+Odense!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

This year’s conference was my first event as a professor @brighamyoungu.bsky.social as well. It was really great to introduce the vision I have for our research group, share what great things in AI we’re doing at BYU, and catch up with friends new and old.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

As I leave #RLC2026 (unfortunately a day early)… My best seeds of future research ideas are planted as a result of every interaction I have at this conference. As Workshop Chair and Keynote panelist, it was a great success!

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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Y'all, RLC is so good. It's the community and conference I wish I had had as a grad student

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Pablo Samuel Castro @pcastr.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

At #RLC2026 and want to run? Come for a #runconference tomorrow (Sunday)! Let's meet at 7am at the pin below and run up the mountain for a beautiful morning view. See you there! maps.app.goo.gl/w7e7CqRbARdG...

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Standing room only at several points of our workshops today at RLC 2026. RL is not having a moment, it’s a full on movement (has been and will continue to be).

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Kicking off my RLC 2026 Workshop Day by listening to Doina Precup in the Big World workshop. I love her vision about building alternative conceptual frames of RL to overcome limitations of normative MDP assumptions.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Today is workshop day at RLC 2026! Workshops at RLC have always been a distinct highlight of the conference. Today’s slate is no different. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone there!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I am also eagerly recruiting graduate students at RLC 2026 for my new lab at @brighamyoungu.bsky.social. Take a look at twkillian.github.io/research for more information. Catch up with me on the conference slack, here, or via email to chat about the opportunities that are available.

twkillian.github.io

Research

Personal research webiste for Taylor W. Killian

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm excited about the Reinforcement Learning Conference starting at the end of the week in Montreal! We have some fantastic workshops planned for Saturday (rl-conference.cc/accepted_workshops…) that I am sure will again be a highlight and set the stage for a great conference.

rl-conference.cc

Accepted Workshops | RLC 2026

Accepted pre-conference workshops at RLC 2026.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm excited to see how this new interface plays out. Interactivity in my bluesky experiences has been low (likely a function of my own activity, sorry), but I'm looking forward to engaging more here!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Today is my first day @brighamyoungu.bsky.social! As promised in the 👇 thread (a few weeks late but c'mon ;) ), I've written a post explaining my decision to return to academia _and_ my home town: twkillian.github.io/returning-to... I'm excited for the journey ahead!

twkillian.github.io

Returning to Academia: Motivations and Expectations

Personal research webiste for Taylor W. Killian

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Thanks Amir-massoud! I’ll be reaching out for advice in no time

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Thanks Serena! It’s going to be a whole lot of fun

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Just following in your footsteps!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Thank you Marc! It's going to be an exciting roller-coaster!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

It's overwhelming to be able to return home to Provo, Utah + BYU and pay forward all the efforts that helped me launch a career as a scientist. I'm excited to try and be that springboard for my students! If you want to learn more about BYU, my lab, etc. please reach out!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Starting a new lab is a fun challenge. We'll study fundamental problems in RL as motivated by practical real-world uses in healthcare ⚕️, life sciences🧪, agentic reasoning🤔, etc. I'll also remain part-time with @lilasciences.bsky.social to help facilitate frontier capabilities toward SSI.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I have a lot to share about why this is the right time to invest in the next generations of technologists, especially in the age of explosive growth in AI capability. I'm working to coherently note down my thoughts and motivations, stay tuned for another blog post next week 🤞

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

📣 There's never a "best" time to share important updates, especially after sitting on this for so long. I'm joining the faculty @brighamyoungu.bsky.social this Summer as an Assistant Professor in the CS Dept, in preparation for the coming school year. Lots of excitement and a fair bit of nerves. 🧵

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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 14/05/2026

Unfortunately positive feedback from students, like all positive feedback, embarrasses me and reminds me of the infinite disproportion between what I’ve given the world and what I owe it. But go ahead and send that note! most of your teachers are sane.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

A future component of faculty / senior roles? "Let me see your agent communication logs"

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I had some time to reflect on my past 12 months after some long flights following #ICLR. It's been a whirlwind year where I've been lucky to visit so many beautiful places while engaging in scientific discussions. Jotted some reflections down in a blog post: twkillian.github.io/science-is-a...

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

First post of what will be a collection of semi-infrequent (maybe even less frequent?) "Musings & Reflections": twkillian.github.io/personally-s...

twkillian.github.io

In search of (personal) recursive self-improvement

Personal research webiste for Taylor W. Killian

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This has been the README of the Github repo of my personal+academic website since I first started it. And this is my latest commit 😱...

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

It's our kid's spring break this week. It's been nice having yard work agents work in parallel to my coding agents.

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Reinforcement Learning Conference @rl-conference.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

We have the keynote speakers for RLC2026 now! Thrilled to welcome Rika Antonova, Sheila McIlraith, Marc G. Bellemare, Danijar Hafner, Balaraman Ravindran! Details: rl-conference.cc/index.html The RL community is coming together this August in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Hope you make it!

rl-conference.cc

RLC 2026

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

RLC is the _very_ best conference. It's always been great vibes and will continue this for the 2026 version!

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

"Forget all previous instructions" will be mine when I ask for the "tea".

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

It’s a real joy being a part of @lilasciences.bsky.social! The momentum inside the company is tangible, it’s nice that it’s being recognized externally as well.

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Christian Wolf @chriswolfvision.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Nice work by the ICML chairs ... love it. Signal boosting this to help make it known. I hope that the effect will be that reviewers will less "delegate" (sigh) reviewing to LLMs instead of spending more effort on finding watermarks.

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Reinforcement Learning Conference @rl-conference.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

RLC2026 Call for Workshops! We’re already live: openreview.net/group?id=rl-... Here's the opportunity to help shape the conference & spotlight your own RL focus areas. Call: rl-conference.cc/call_for_wor... Deadline: Mar 12 (AoE) And don't forget the awesome banquet :) www.cirquedusoleil.com/ludo

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Aadirupa Saha @aadirupa.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

RLC 2026 Call for Workshop is live on OpenReview! Submission deadline: Mar 12 (AoE). Full details here: rl-conference.cc/call_for_wor... @glenberseth.bsky.social @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social @twkillian.bsky.social @schaul.bsky.social @sologen.bsky.social @audurand.bsky.social @bradknox.bsky.social

rl-conference.cc

RLJ | RLC Call for Workshops

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Reinforcement Learning Conference @rl-conference.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

RLC attendees will also enjoy the banquet featuring a theatrical dinner show by Cirque du Soleil (LUDŌ): www.cirquedusoleil.com/ludo All the more reason not to miss the chance to be part of RLC 2026!

cirquedusoleil.com

LUDÕ | Cirque du Soleil

Discover Nuevo Vallarta's new resident dinner show LUDÕ. Immerse yourself in a multi-sensory water-themed experience.

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Taylor W. Killian @twkillian.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Not “perhaps”. It is definitely the best venue for RL researchers.

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Reinforcement Learning Conference @rl-conference.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Only ~7 days to go until the full paper deadline (Mar 5, AOE)! Wishing everyone a strong close to the submission cycle.

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Audrey Durand @audurand.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

RLC 2026 Call for Workshops is up! This is the opportunity to bring the attention of the community to the topics that you find the most important in RL!

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Claire Vernade @claireve.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Check out the Call for Workshops at RLC this year. There is still nearly a month before the deadline, we are looking forward to your proposals!

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